The new all-natural bagged snack item (pictured at top) features roasted dried plantains, which are similar to bananas and used like potatoes throughout the world, including in South and Central America and Africa, in chip form, along with Sunflower Oil and salt. That's it.

Plantains, which originated in Southeast Asia, are highly nutritious and eaten steamed, cooked or as a snack in the mostly tropical regions throughout the world where they're considered a food staple. Due in large part to the many immigrants from Latin America in the U.S., along with creative chefs who've been featuring plantains for a few years now, more an more Americans have been discovering the plantain in its many forms as well.

The fresh&easy brand plantain snack crisps (chips essentially) are made without the use of any artificial preservatives, flavorings or colors.

In fact, the package designer, United Kingdom-based global design firm Pemberton and Whitefoord (P&W), intentionally plays up that message on the package in both graphic design form and by using this simple on-package message: "Our [fresh&easy brand] Plantains are roasted to crispy perfection then lightly salted for a snack that's not your typical chip."

The' not your typical chip' message is in reference to the many commercial brands of potato chips that contain artificial preservatives, flavors colors and other similar artificial ingredients, according to a spokesperson for the packaging design firm.

In terms of the inspiration for the package's graphic design, the P&W spokesperson says: "The hand-painted playful typography and exotic shades of green applied to a wood-textured background helped us to achieve a design suggestive of a tropical fruit stand. Offering this unique product in an appropriately skinny bag will hopefully peak the interest of consumers, and secure it’s spot as a highly marketable item.

"The unusual nature of plantain crisps required a novel design treatment that would differentiate it from more conventional snacking products, while giving strong provenance cues. We were really pleased with the solution, which is simple, original and eye catching. The structure of the design offers plenty of scope for range extensions if it is decided to expand into flavored SKUs."

Plantains, both fresh and in dried (roasted and not roasted) chip snacking form, have become increasingly popular in the U.S. over the last few years. For example, numerous specialty and ethnic supermarkets, along with natural foods stores now offer fresh plantains in produce. Ten years ago few did.

Additionally, dried plantain chips, along with dried banana chips, are available at numerous U.S. natural foods stores and supermarkets in bulk bins in the bulk foods department.

More recently, a number of branded food companies specializing in ethnic and natural food products have introduced packaged plantain chips similar to what Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is introducing with its fresh&easy private brand item on the market, offering the snack chips for sale in U.S. stores. A few brands have been available for many years at ethnic grocery stores, as well as from ethnic grocers that operate online grocery stores.

For example, the Samai brand offers seven different varieties of plantain snack chips in bags, ranging from its pacific sea salt and garlic flavored SKUs, to one it calls Jungle Chili.

Additionally, the Terra Chips brand, which is owned by Hain-Celestial, and is the brand that popularized alternatives to dried potato chips in the U.S. starting in the early 1990's, offers plantain chips in one of its mixed vegetable chip SKUs.

When it comes to private brand plantain chips, Tesco's Fresh & Easy isn't the first grocer to introduce such an item. Trader Joe's has had packaged plantain chips in its stores -Trader Joe's Roasted Plantain Chips - for at least a couple years.

What next? Cassava chips would be a 'natural'

In terms of new product development in the packaged snack foods category (often called salty snacks), If Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is looking for its next specialty snack chip item it might want to take a close look at coming out with a packaged dried cassava (also referred to as tapioca or yucca) chip item or two under its fresh&easy brand.

The cassava, which is similar to the plantain and like plantains has has more fiber and potassium than potatoes, is a mainstay in numerous African and South American diets. It's also gluten-free, which is a key selling point in the U.S.

Cassava chips are super-popular in Cuba and throughout South and Central America.

We recently tasted two brands of cassava chips, Joseph Banks brand and PAPA Cassava Chips, which are from Australia. Both companies, along with a couple others, were pitching the chips to American retailers at the Summer Fancy Food Show in June.

The Chifles' brand, mentioned earlier for its plantain chips, also offers a packaged cassava chip variety. Additionally, Terra Chips also mentioned earlier, includes cassava chips in its 'Exotic Harvest' mixed chip SKU. Lastly, Arico Natural Foods Company has introduced a multi-SKU line of bagged cassava chips, which is gaining placement in numerous grocery stores.

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